Not to be Boomerish, but I do think one loss of the streaming age, is discovering older media through serendipity. The only reason I know about Tom and Jerry, The Looney Tunes, or any of those older toons is because they aired at random while I was watching TV. Now you have to seek them out. - ThreadSky

caudlewag.bsky.social • 37 days ago

Not to be Boomerish, but I do think one loss of the streaming age, is discovering older media through serendipity.

The only reason I know about Tom and Jerry, The Looney Tunes, or any of those older toons is because they aired at random while I was watching TV. Now you have to seek them out.

Comments

burnrbbr.bsky.social•37 days ago

That’s probably why we zoomers love thrifting so much. It’s the joys of finding a random item in a place with little curation or trendsetting

anywhy.bsky.social•37 days ago

Gaming too. I loved renting and trying out random new console games as a kid. Made some great discoveries that way.

letsbepurple.bsky.social•37 days ago

Same goes for books in bookstores vs Amazon

seamus-heinous.bsky.social•37 days ago

Record stores vs…whatever

keithhouser6.bsky.social•37 days ago

Convicted rapist Bill Cosby bought the rights to the little rascals so it’s hard to find those shorts.

freakanatcha.bsky.social•37 days ago

One thing I wish the steamers would do is dig up the old local kiddie shows. Now I would get all the double entendres and asides to the crew.

freakanatcha.bsky.social•37 days ago

What boomer didn't know about Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes since they were 5?

Tom & Jerry were role models in beating the crap out of our siblings

gardylou-games.bsky.social•37 days ago

I’ve noticed this with my kids—I actively try to promote variety because they’d consume a very narrow sliver of media if it was up to the YouTubes and Robloxs of the world.

mxtdoliver.bsky.social•37 days ago

I'm Gen X and a teacher. You should see me trying to convince kids in highschool now that when I was growing up that we ALL watched Happy Days, The Brady Bunch, MASH, Good Times, Sanford and Son, and The Jeffersons, regardless of our race or socioeconomic class becaue that was what was on.

trninvt.bsky.social•37 days ago

I've watched some of those 100+ year old movies on Max. They are fun.

quiltedporcupine.bsky.social•37 days ago

While that did occasionaly lead to hidden gems, there are lots of random (often low budget) things I've watched, especially on Tubi, purely because the thumbnail and description seemed interesting. So it's definitely still possible to do that now.

lappifox.bsky.social•37 days ago

FAST Services like Samsung TV or Pluto TV could provide that, but a lot of their offerings are things like old game shows or things that are otherwise cheap to license.

eddienyc.bsky.social•37 days ago

Pluto has a good selection tho!

kinkymoofficial.bsky.social•37 days ago

Tbh, the seeking them out part has become sort of an adventure for me since I use Letterboxd sometimes to find weird obscure stuff I would never have seen otherwise. This movie alone kinda justifies it a little haha

andymke.bsky.social•37 days ago

The other part is that ignores that even content streaming services offer up things you can discover.

It didn't go away, it may just happen differently.

kinkymoofficial.bsky.social•37 days ago

Exactly that as well, though mainly I just prefer browsing LB or hell even Wikipedia to find new stuff. But I know that’s not how everyone works and that’s fine

andymke.bsky.social•37 days ago

It's fine people work differently, concerning when they make blanket statements that are untrue because they assign their opinion to either be fact or apply to everyone.

svenkingsson.bsky.social•37 days ago

Probably true but I haven't watched television in 2 decades (other then sporting events with friends and stuff like that). I still discover stuff via sites like youtube all the time.

zax2000.bsky.social•37 days ago

I think about all of rh classical music that I was exposed to while watching those timeless reruns. It's a shame that our culture has lost that.

keithhouser6.bsky.social•37 days ago

It’s because of those cartoons and the little rascals I listen to some big band and 20’s music.

thinkingitover.bsky.social•37 days ago

Heckle and Jeckle. Chip and Dale. Top Cat. The Road Runner. 😎

bluestreak.bsky.social•37 days ago

I agree. It’s difficult to see something by accident anymore.

molacomba.bsky.social•37 days ago

Not to be Boomerish but when I was a kid, I loved watching Tom & Jerry every morning. 🌞

kokaneejohn.bsky.social•37 days ago

I watch them on TikTok. I'm 74✌️

meems88.bsky.social•37 days ago

Here I am, a Boomerish Boomer, liking your post. ;-)

mango-flava.bsky.social•37 days ago

Saturday morning cartoons with cereal in homemade blanket and pillow tents was just awesome.

prosegardener.bsky.social•37 days ago

This sad loss of serendipity permeates society now. No longer getting a broadsheet newspaper filled with stories/ideas yet to be discovered is alone a huge loss. This level of curation is not healthy. In the early internet days there was concern about it creating echo chambers. And here we are…

mrtherapydog.bsky.social•37 days ago

MeTV Toons plays them all.

rocketparsons.bsky.social•37 days ago

I think about how many cool random things I learned about either through channel surfing, watching what my parents were watching, or the variety of music I listened to by throwing in random records/CDs of my parents, while my kids tends to watch the same things or kinds of things more repetitively.

rocketparsons.bsky.social•37 days ago

I do think they are missing out in certain ways, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to give them a broader experience without feeling like a curmudgeon who grumbles about 'back in my day...'

collier74.bsky.social•37 days ago

Quite the soothsayer you are. That's very good what you've observed.

caudlewag.bsky.social•37 days ago

Not to say the TV era was better (It wasn't really, and with streaming prices it's really about the same but with more convenience), but I worry a lot of classics will languish without a way to be presented to the viewer outside their choice.

Death of the monoculture and all that.

colinbrooker.bsky.social•37 days ago

TV era was better in that people make the shows actually got paid well enough to afford living, actors continue to get paid for reruns, getting those sweet advertising dollars. Studios going hard in on streaming blew away 90% of the profits the industry made.

colinbrooker.bsky.social•37 days ago

This is why they’ve started ad-supported tiers. It’s the only tier that actually makes money. And the trap between the ad-tier and ad-free tier is only going to grow larger.

They want you to downgrade.

sherbetdreams.bsky.social•37 days ago

There's some serendipity with stuff like the MST3K twitch streams, for example, but you sadly don't get to pick something that's *not* MST3K but with the same random chance. Maybe this kind of thing will have to be picked up by more independent folks?

penny4yrthoughts.bsky.social•37 days ago

Boomers are the best generation! While I agree with your assessment of the cartoons —don’t forget Leave it to Beaver and the Beverly Hillbillies

delmaclifton.bsky.social•37 days ago

If you were truly a Boomer, you would have rushed to the TV every afternoon after school to watch them

caramartin.ca•37 days ago

In my late teens and early 20s I discovered so many great old movies airing in the middle of the night because there wasn't much else on.

nordiceuropean.bsky.social•37 days ago

Now it's very difficult to watch classic movies without paying extra. Classics should be cheaper!

caramartin.ca•36 days ago

Many of them you can't even find anymore. There was a time when you could get almost every movie on VHS.

caramo.bsky.social•37 days ago

I feel this way about music. All the songs I would find on a tape or CD bc I paid $10 for the one song I loved and listened to the whole album.

ohsheila417.bsky.social•37 days ago

I feel that way about music. I download what I like but rarely listen to the radio or hear new songs

bluestreak.bsky.social•37 days ago

Since losing the local alt rock station, my search for new music has gotten difficult. I can’t just turn on the radio and find out what’s good; I have to *dig*

morbid.bsky.social•37 days ago

Serendipity happens plenty on Bluesky if you know where to look

jugbandjames.bsky.social•36 days ago

I dunno, I hear about lots of stuff online and have easy access to it. I might have to seek it out but one post or comment makes me curious.

hempforpresident.bsky.social•37 days ago

But, frankly, they didn't air randomly. Someone made that decision for you. And now you can find things serendipitously through YouTube, Plex, or a friend whose opinion you trust's recommendation.

For example, if you're a Pokemon fan - or honestly even if you're not - check out Starter Squad on YT.

hempforpresident.bsky.social•37 days ago

Or, Viva la Dirt League. @vivaladirtleague.bsky.social

No corporation would ever have green-lit them in the 80s and 90s, and yet, here we are, they own their own studio and they're crushing it.

(Again, if you haven't watched them, YouTube. You'll be glad you did.)

celly321.bsky.social•37 days ago

They also killed the Library Angel 😕

hithereimcolton.bsky.social•37 days ago

Not exactly true Looney Tunes and Tom And Jerry both still air on tv on Boomerange and CN

hallenbeck77.bsky.social•37 days ago

Also on MeTV Toons--Looney Tunes shorts air every day.

fugitivepope.bsky.social•37 days ago

One of the tools I use for serendipitous activities is the Internet Archive. Do some sort of broad search (cartoons) and restrict to video only (or not). Here's what I got with "vintage television" and restricted to pre-1986. YMMV.

https://archive.org/search?query=vintage+television&and%5B%5D=year%3A%5B1745+TO+1986%5D

tambi-the-elephant.bsky.social•37 days ago

In the same vein, I miss the days of Stumbleupon. I was ADDICTED to that. Just click and see a new thing constantly. Now there aren't really even websites anymore. Everything is consolidated to aggregation platforms and social media. I miss webrings and fansites and all that.

lisalove420.bsky.social•37 days ago

I loved StumbleUpon! It was my first web-based past time.

tambi-the-elephant.bsky.social•37 days ago

It was great. Wouldn't work now, unfortunately.

joskatakacs.bsky.social•37 days ago

They’re on MeTV.

changerous.bsky.social•37 days ago

Check out the Road Runner, and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Squirrel and Moose!

tantroo.bsky.social•37 days ago

Content DJs replaced by Content AIs

chrisdash.bsky.social•37 days ago

Old black and white movies on Saturday afternoons when you stayed inside to avoid doing yard work and they were the only thing on.

mirimg.bsky.social•37 days ago

They were brilliant.

katakateri.bsky.social•37 days ago

YouTube has lots of vintage channels.

jmbossert1.bsky.social•37 days ago

At movies in the 1940's you got a main feature (color?), a B&W western, a newsreel, & 3 cartoons. Cost for me? 10c.

pinkcatthe2nd.bsky.social•37 days ago

Ok boo- JK

jodyworks.bsky.social•37 days ago

My kids have found all these media by surfing YouTube and Tik Tok.

pattifmclark.bsky.social•37 days ago

YouTube is great!

ibol17.bsky.social•37 days ago

Dude there were 3 channels. You watched what was on or you went outside.

dasos3crows.bsky.social•37 days ago

Exactly this. The serendipity of cheap syndication and no other options.

mrspooch2u.bsky.social•37 days ago

Must we really insult Boomers again?!

amyisverybusy.bsky.social•37 days ago

Yes.

microwoman.bsky.social•37 days ago

I think about this regarding libraries and electronic catalogs, too. Now you put a hold on an item from home and never walk the shelves. It used to be that you'd find interesting authors near the book you were seeking, and now, no.